Preserving a Tide Mill Foundation – Again

In the early 1980s and fresh out of engineering school, Kurt Dietrich was assigned to engineer a foundation restoration and preservation project at the historic Van Wyck-Lefferts tide mill in Huntington, N.Y. The stone work was deteriorating badly from the action of rising and falling salt water tides and needed repair to keep the 200-year-old building from falling into Puppy Cove on Long Island’s north shore. His solution: repoint the foundation stones and then protect them with a timber bulkhead to fend off the action of waves and ice.

At the time, Dietrich probably never imagined he’d be revisiting his project in 2023 when his 1980 solution was reaching the end of its lifetime. But that’s exactly what happened. Now he’s on the board of directors of Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary and the old mill foundation once again needs attention. (But this is no criticism of the 1980s preservation project. Forty years is a respectable lifetime for a foundation structure under constant attack by 7-1/2-foot tides, storms, and floods.)

Since the timber bulkhead protective barrier worked as well as it did, the 2024 repair will be similar. Another timber bulkhead will be added as additional protective layer on the old bulkhead. (For more project details, read Dietrich’s report here.) Contractors are expecting to begin the work sometime this month.

Completing the mill’s foundation work will not end Dietrich’s interest in the building by any means. Along with a handful of other volunteers, he is currently restoring the ancient milling machinery inside the building. And lying ahead are plans for new siding, some internal structural repairs, and more repairs to the dam. Inside the building, they’re restoring some Archimedes screw conveyors and replacing old leather power transmission belts.

All this work at the site is just a continuation of efforts to preserve the mill and its history. About $300,000 worth of work has been completed over the past few years with funds raised from a grant, donations, and a small endowment the sanctuary received when they took over the property from its former owner.

For more about the mill’s history, preservation work, and how to support restoration efforts, visit huntingtontidemill.org.